What Is the Most Popular Ethnic Food in the US?

The United States has long been considered as a melting pot – an environment where diverse individuals and classes of people coexist. That is mirrored in the country’s food choices. Food is a means for many Americans to learn and appreciate diverse cultures. According to a report, Mexican food is the most common ethnic food in the largest number of states. It is particularly common in the West Coast. However, Chinese cuisine is the most common nationwide. According to Georgie Mihaila, a food blogger, both cuisines have a colorful history attached to Chinese and Mexican immigrants in America. Restaurants serving Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese cuisine are also gaining popularity across the region. The demand for more varied food experiences is being led by millennials. Millennials have overtaken Generation X as the country’s largest age demographic. The majority of them are between the ages of 26 and 40. These people tend to talk about their meals on social media. Americans are getting more experimental in their food selections in general.

Scientists Solve Mystery About Stonehenge

British scientists say they have solved a mystery involving Stonehenge, the well-known stone monument in Wiltshire, England. Scientists announced this week that they have discovered the origins of many of Stonehenge’s massive stones known as megaliths. People used those stones to construct milestones, landmarks, and other buildings thousands of years ago. According to the scholars, a small piece from one megalith was instrumental in solving the mystery. For over 40 years, the little piece of stone has been stored in the United States. According to chemical research, the bulk of Stonehenge’s megaliths, known as sarsens, came from a place known as the West Woods. The ancient monument is about 25 kilometers away. Researchers are still uncertain how the stones were transported to Stonehenge. David Nash of the University of Brighton who led the study clarified, “Given the size of the stones, they must have been pulled or pushed on rollers.” He added that the discovery might provide people a better understanding of the hard work behind Stonehenge.

France Wonders: Who Owns Colonial Art?

Is it an illegal act or a political one to remove an African art from a European museum? This issue has been in discussion at the French court during the trial of a Congolese activist demanding the restoration of his country’s art. “It belongs to us!” an African woman who was attending the trial cried out. After a museum lawyer claimed that the art belonged to the French state, the woman started to weep and then left the courtroom. Thousands of art pieces from former African and Asian colonies can be seen at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris. Colonial authorities took many of the precious artworks and brought them to French museums. Congo-born Emery Mwazulu Diyabanza and four other activists are charged with attempted robbery after trying to steal a 19th-century African funeral pole from the museum. They livestreamed the act on Facebook, claiming it was a protest. The activists were immediately caught by officials. “We are the legitimate heirs of these works,” Diyabanza argued in a trial. He also clarified that he was not trying to nick the art, and he just wanted to uncloak its origin.

Study: Dogs Can Feel Their Owners’ Stress, Too

In a recent study published in Scientific Sports, information came that when dog owners are being subject to a long period of stress, their dogs can feel their stress too. The study was focused on 58 people who own herding dogs. The exam was conducted by looking at the presence of cortisol in the hair of both the owner and the dog. Cortisol, a hormone that is released during stressful experiences, can attach to the hair. The study found out that the amounts of cortisol found in an owner and his dog are closely matched. The researchers assumed that it is the human who influences the dog as some human personality traits can also affect a dog’s cortisol levels. Accordingly, this is not surprising as a dog’s life is mostly centered on the owner, unlike the owner which has other social networks. Recent evidence also showed that the relationship between a dog and its owner has become closely like one of a parent and child. Thus, owners are encouraged to reduce the stress they are giving to their dogs and to have fun with them instead.

The US Army Finally Gets Its Own Museum

The United States Army has opened its own museum on Veterans Day. The National Museum of the United States Army, located in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, is approximately thirty kilometers from the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. The museum pursues to share the story of the country’s oldest military service, which dates back to 1775. Interactive and historical displays are housed in the five-story complex. It contains a large number of recovered papers, photographs, artworks, and various types of army equipment. It also includes a World War II Sherman tank, a Vietnam War helicopter, an armored personnel carrier from the 2003 Iraq War, and a horseback riding saddle used by Army Special Forces in the mountains of Afghanistan in 2001. A life-size display during World War II exhibits American forces arriving on the coasts of Normandy, France on Codenamed Operation Neptune, or also referred to as the ‘D-Day’. There are also guns, safety gear, and service awards on display. It also features a recovered clock, frozen at the time of impact from the 9-11 attack at the Pentagon military headquarters.

Jaws’ Shark Arrives at Motion Picture Museum

The terrifying creature from the 1975 American film “Jaws” has found a permanent home in Los Angeles. Bruce is a 45-year-old shark with a length of 7.6 meters and a weight of 547 kilograms. On the set of Steven Spielberg’s time-honored film, Bruce was known for being rigorous to work with. Making him ready to perform was a huge challenge. Years of preparation went into the project, which included a seven-month renovation by visual effects and makeup artist Greg Nicotero. The museum plans to open its doors to the public at the end of April 2021. Since the museum anticipates a significant number of visitors, Bruce will be placed in a spot where the general public will see him for free. Nearly 50 years after making children and adults scared of sea creatures, Bruce is now taking movie buffs to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, as the museum’s largest object to date. “We plan on having Bruce greet our visitors for as long as we can keep him up there,” the museum’s director Bill Kramer said, hoping that the creature will make people interested in the history of visual effects and how the shark was created.

How US Military Invented America’s Favorite Snacks

Many of the common food snacks in the United States today were developed by food scientists in the US military. Those military food scientists were tasked with creating food for troops that could be quickly carried, stored, and consumed, such as instant coffee, frozen cookies, and energy bars. During World War II, the production of these foods intensified. Military scientists wanted to produce small, healthy food for troops at that period. The military had to implement a variety of new food processing methods to do this. It also developed a food science research system that is still used today. High-pressure processing is one of the new techniques. This method guarantees that raw food is safe to consume. Guacamole, salsa, and hummus are only a few examples of processed goods that use this technique. Today, some of the world’s most renowned military experts are also looking for a chocolate that does not melt in high temperatures.

Margaret Atwood Honored with Dayton Literary Peace Prize

Margaret Atwood, a Canadian author, has received the top prize in the International Dayton Literary Peace Prizes. The award recognizes the ability of literature to foster world peace, social justice, and awareness. The award is named after the former American ambassador who negotiated the 1995 Dayton Ohio peace talks that brought an end to the Bosnian war. Since the early 1960s, Atwood’s works have been published. She writes poems, fictional novels, and magazine and news articles. She focuses a lot of her work on women’s plight. Her popular 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale was adapted into an American television series. It is the story of a future America in which men have full political influence. The book and its television adaptation sparked a lot of political debate, particularly in the United States. Readers and viewers found the story to be frighteningly similar to recent political events in the United States.

UNESCO Recognizes Singapore’s Low-Cost Food Culture

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has acknowledged the cultural value of Singapore’s custom of dining out in places known as hawker centers. UNESCO added the city’s “hawker culture” to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Hawkers play such a major role in Singaporean culture. “These centers serve as ‘community dining rooms’ where people from diverse backgrounds gather and share the experience of dining over breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” UNESCO said. Open-air eating areas where hawkers sell their goods are very popular in the country. They have received several acclaims from celebrity chefs such as Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay and were also featured in films like “Crazy Rich Asians.” Singapore’s hawker society, however, faces challenges. In Singapore, the average age of a hawker is 60 years old, and the number of younger Singaporeans who want to work in offices has increased. The COVID-19 pandemic has also hindered sales by stopping overseas tourists from dining out. Local travels were also suspended during the first few months of this year due to travel limitations and social distancing.